A national study just named us dead last for retirement. As a lifelong Jersey resident, I’ve got a few things to say about that — and the data to back me up.
A 2025 study from senior living platform Seniorly ranked New Jersey #51 out of 51 — dead last — as the worst state in the country to retire in. Worse than Alabama. Worse than Mississippi. Worse, apparently, than everywhere.
And look, I’m not going to sit here and tell you New Jersey is cheap. It’s not. We know this. We’ve known this since approximately the first time we got our property tax bill. But there’s a big difference between “expensive” and “the absolute worst place on earth to grow old” — and this study blurs that line in some pretty significant ways.
What the Study Actually Found
Seniorly evaluated all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. across three categories: affordability, quality of life, and healthcare.
Their nine metrics included:
- cost of living
- income tax rate
- Supplemental Security Income payments
- weather
- arts and entertainment access
- community of older adults
- doctor availability
- Medicaid spending on long-term care
- percentage of seniors with three or more chronic conditions
New Jersey ranked last primarily because of high cost of living and a top income tax rate of 10.75%. The study also dinged us for a “mediocre” arts and recreation score and the fact that 65% of NJ seniors have three or more chronic conditions.
“New Jersey is the worst state to retire because it is one of the least affordable states in the country.”
— Seniorly, Best and Worst States to Retire in 2025
Fair enough — on paper. But here’s where it gets interesting. Affordability is one lens. It’s not the only lens. And for a lot of New Jersey retirees, the full picture looks a whole lot different.
The Tax Story They Didn’t Tell
Yes, New Jersey’s top income tax rate is 10.75%. But that rate only kicks in on income over $1 million. The Seniorly study uses this number as a hammer — but for the vast majority of retirees, it’s barely relevant.
Here’s what’s actually relevant for most NJ seniors:
New Jersey’s Real Senior Tax Picture
- Social Security is 100% exempt from New Jersey state income tax.
- The Pension and Retirement Income Exclusion allows qualifying retirees aged 62+ to exclude up to $75,000 (single) or $100,000 (joint) in pension, 401(k), and IRA income from state taxes — if total income is $100,000 or less.
- The Stay NJ program (launched 2026) covers 50% of property taxes for homeowners 65+ with income under $500,000, up to $13,000 annually in coming years.
- The Senior Freeze locks in your property tax base year so increases can’t spiral out of control for eligible long-term residents.
- The ANCHOR program provides additional property tax relief for both homeowners and renters.
- Seniors 65+ qualify for an additional $1,000 personal exemption on NJ income taxes.
None of that nuance made it into the Seniorly ranking. When you stack these programs together, a middle-income New Jersey retiree who owns their home can significantly reduce their effective tax burden — often to levels that compete favorably with states that appear “cheaper” on paper but offer no comparable relief programs.
There is also the fact that NJ is the least dependent on the federal government which contributes to our higher taxes.
The Healthcare They Glossed Over
The study ranked New Jersey middling on healthcare based on Medicaid spending per senior and the percentage of seniors with chronic conditions. What it didn’t account for is the quality of the healthcare system that Garden State retirees actually have access to.
Let’s talk about what we’ve got:
Hackensack University Medical Center has been ranked the #1 hospital in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report in multiple consecutive years, with the distinction of being the only NJ hospital ranked #1 for both adult and children’s care. The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack has been named the best cancer center in the state, ranking in the top 50 nationwide.
Morristown Medical Center (Atlantic Health) holds the #1 orthopedics ranking in all of New Jersey and a top 50 national ranking in that specialty, with additional national recognition in gastroenterology, urology, and cardiology. Atlantic Health System placed two hospitals in the New Jersey top three in the 2025–2026 U.S. News rankings — the only health system in the state to accomplish that.
Multiple NJ hospitals have earned Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals recognition — a designation given to roughly the top 1% of hospitals in the country.
You can quote Medicaid spending per capita all day. What matters when you’re 73 and need cardiac surgery is whether world-class care is 20 minutes away. In New Jersey? It usually is.
The chronic conditions metric is real — 65% of NJ Medicare beneficiaries have three or more chronic conditions. But it’s worth noting that this figure reflects a population that is living with those conditions — in large part because they have access to the kind of specialist-dense, nationally ranked medical infrastructure that keeps people alive and managing their health. That’s not a failure. That’s what good healthcare access looks like.
What the Study Valued — And What It Missed
The Seniorly methodology gave heavy weight to weather (hello, Montana winters at #2), cost of living, and supplemental security payments. That’s a legitimate framework for some retirees. But it doesn’t weigh things that matter enormously to a huge segment of seniors — particularly those who’ve spent decades building a life here.
- Proximity to family. New Jersey sits at the center of the most densely populated corridor in the country. If your kids are in the New York metro area, Philadelphia, or anywhere along the Northeast corridor, staying in Jersey means you’re close. That’s not a line item in any ranking formula, but ask any grandparent what it’s worth.
- Cultural density. Yes, the study noted our arts and recreation score was “mediocre.” But that metric counted facilities per 100,000 seniors — and in a dense state like New Jersey, proximity to New York City’s world-class cultural institutions, Jersey Shore entertainment, Atlantic City, and dozens of local arts venues wasn’t factored in at all.
- Transit and walkability. NJ Transit, proximity to major airports, walkable downtowns from Montclair to Cape May — New Jersey retirees who no longer want to drive aren’t stranded the way they might be in, say, South Dakota (#6 on this list).
A Fair Takeaway for NJ Seniors
Is New Jersey the right retirement destination for everyone? No. If your top priority is the lowest possible cost of living and warm weather, there are better options. These are reasons why we do have a lot of people moving out. The Seniorly study isn’t wrong about that.
But “worst state to retire” is a sweeping verdict that flattens a complicated reality. For the New Jersey retiree who owns a home, has a pension or 401(k), relies on Social Security, has family nearby, and wants access to some of the best hospitals in the country — the picture is far more nuanced than a #51 ranking suggests.
New Jersey isn’t for everyone. Never has been. But the people who stay here? They stay for reasons that don’t always fit neatly into a spreadsheet. And those reasons are real.
We’re Jersey. We don’t need a study to tell us who we are.
Sources: Seniorly, “Best and Worst States to Retire in 2025” (January 2025) · NJ Division of Taxation, Stay NJ Program and Senior Freeze (nj.gov/treasury/taxation) · American Tax Service, “Senior Tax Deductions in New Jersey in 2025 & 2026” · Hackensack Meridian Health, U.S. News & World Report Best Hospital Rankings (2024) · Atlantic Health System, U.S. News Rankings (2025–2026) · Newsweek/Statista, America’s Best-In-State Hospitals (2025) · Healthgrades, America’s Best Hospitals (2024–2026)
